“Raised in New York’s suburbia, Jennifer’s family had chickens and ducks and a front yard vegetable garden (much to her teenager’s dismay). Jennifer now has her own front yard vegetable garden, shops farmers markets year round and is happiest when scheming about the next thing to make.”

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My daughter Emily is a cereal eater. For seventeen years we have heard the tinkle of spoon on bowl within minutes of her rising from bed. My guys have a different morning tune. Their days begin with the ka-chunk and spring of the toaster. Toppings vary but the refrain is consistent. Toast. Toast. Toast.

For years we relied on local bakeries and our ancient bread bread machine to fill our need. When our machine died after twenty years of hard work I began searching for a family-approved, easy-to-make bread recipe.

I’ve tried many variants only to be frustrated by overly-complex instructions, odd ingredients, and recipes that require three bowls, a pot and every measuring cup in the cabinet. Then one day when reading blogs I remembered Farmgirl Fare.

Farmgirl Susan has lots of great seasonal and pantry staple recipes. Farmhouse white bread is one of her classics. The original recipe with dozens of great photos and tips can be found here.

As written Susan’s recipe is delicious but for our daily bread we usually prefer something with more whole wheat. Susan’s technique and instructions gave me the confidence to mix in different flours and grains. I’ve tweaked and adjusted it to suit our preferences and have been rewarded with beautiful moist loaves and more whole wheat goodness.

This recipes requirements are straight forward–one measuring cup, two measuring spoons, one mixing bowl and one wooden spoon. Furthermore, the quantity is unique well worth the time investment to make from scratch. My version below makes two loaves and ten rolls which are perfect for burgers and sandwiches and so much tastier.

RECIPE: JENNIFER’S SANDWICH & BREAD ROLLS

Makes 2 loaves, about 1½ pounds each and 10 sandwich rolls.

INGREDIENTS

1 cups all-purpose flour

2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup coarse-ground rye flour (bought in bulk at Honest Weight)

1½ Tablespoons instant yeast (bought in bulk at Honest Weight)

3 Tablespoons Sugar in the Raw

2 Tablespoons canola oil

4 cups milk (OR whey) warmed gently

About 6 cups bread flour

1 Tablespoon sea salt

METHODS

In a very lage mixing bowl, using a wooden spoon, stir together the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, rye flour, yeast, and sugar. Make a small well in the middle of the flour mixture and pour in the oil and the milk.

Mix well, then continue to stir vigorously, slowly adding 1 cup of the bread flour at a time and stirring it in, until you’ve added 3 to 4 cups of bread flour and have a sticky, shaggy dough; this should take several minutes.

Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and let it rest for 20 minutes.

Add the salt and 1 to 1.5 cups of bread flour JUST until the dough is dry enough to knead. Turn the dough out onto a floured pastry board and knead it adding as little flour as you can get away with until the dough is soft and smooth, about 8 to 10 minutes. I watch the timer to force myself to be diligent but am rewarded with supple, elastic dough.

I roll my dough in flour and place it back in the same bowl (uncleaned!) and cover it again with the damp tea towel.

My kitchen is on the shady side of the house and is quite cool. I let the dough rise for a full 1.25 hours. And still, I don’t rely totally on the clock. I make sure it has doubled in size and when poked that the dough doesn’t bounce back.

Turn the risen dough out onto a lightly floured work surface, flattening gently to break up any large air bubbles. Divide the dough into three equal pieces using a chef’s knife.

Shape two pieces into loaves by gently wrapping the dough around itself you have a log slightly longer than your loaf pan. Then compress it gently and press it into a well buttered 9 x 5 glass pan.

Cut the remaining dough into 10 evenly sized pieces. Shape these by stretching the dough from the top around to the bottom. They should be a roundish shape with a smooth surface. Gently flatten and place on a well seasoned baking stone.

Cover the loaves and rolls again with the a dampened tea towel and let them rise 60 minutes. Then preheat the oven to 350°.

When the oven is heated place the rolls on the bottom rack and the two loaves on the top rack. The rolls bake in about 25 minutes. Remove them to a rack to cool completely.

Continue to cook the loaves for a total of 40 minutes. They will be a lovely golden color and should pop out of the pans easily. Remove them immediately to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in zip lock bags at room temperature. Loaves remain fresh and moist for at least five days. And, like most baked goods this bread freezes and defrosts beautifully.

12 Comments on “{recipe} Jennifer’s Sandwich Bread and Rolls”

I’m so excited to try this recipe. I’ve been baking my own bread since January, but I keep repeating the same recipes because I haven’t had the time to make a starter or spend literally all day working on one loaf. Rolls continue to elude me. Thanks for sharing!

It would also be helpful if there was a printable version of recipes on this site, without the images between all the instructions.

I realize this coment is over a year old at this point but I thought it’d hopefully be worth mentioning that there’s a free browser addon from Evernote called Clearly that specifically cleans up blog posts/web pages for easy saving to Evernote or easy printability.

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